Past Kentucky Derby runners meet in high-end allowance

Far Right (left) wins an optional claimer at Oaklawn in February 2016.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wednesday’s eighth race at Churchill Downs, a $72,000, fourth-level allowance at mile, has a distinctive Kentucky Derby flavor. Two of the six entrants, Mo Tom and Far Right, were Derby runners, with the former finishing eighth in 2016 and the latter 15th in 2015.

Almost as surprising is that the duo has won just two races between them since, and neither has been victorious in 2017. Mo Tom is 1 for 8 since his Derby run, last winning the Ohio Derby in June 2016, while Far Right is 1 for 10, having taken an allowance at Oaklawn in February 2016.

Wednesday’s race provides a favorable regrouping opportunity for them, though a victory from one is not assured due largely to the presence of Money Flows, runner-up in the Grade 3 Lukas Classic on Sept. 30 at Churchill Downs.

Mo Tom, trained by Tom Amoss for G M B Racing, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite, followed at 3-1 by Money Flows and Rise Up, another Amoss trainee and a millionaire best known for winning the Delta Downs Jackpot four years ago.

Far Right, now trained by Wayne Catalano after Ron Moquett was his conditioner before this year, seems likely to drop from his 5-1 morning line on a stretch-out in distance after rallying to be second in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint at Keeneland last month.

KEY CONTENDERS

Far Right, by Notional
Last 3 Beyers: 87-86-85

◗ Should benefit from a return to Churchill Downs, where he is a winner and has hit the board in five of six starts, with the exception coming in the Derby.

◗ Was given a late-summer break after a lackluster fourth-place finish in the restricted Alydar Stakes on Aug. 6 at Saratoga and has just four published workouts since, with the fastest being a bullet five furlongs in 59.60 on Oct. 18 at Churchill.

◗ Florent Geroux, fresh off winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Saturday with Gun Runner, teams with Amoss, for whom he has won at a 27 percent rate in 2016-17.

◗ Finished two lengths behind Mo Tom when he was fourth and the latter third in the Schaefer Memorial this summer at Indiana Grand before a more promising second to Honorable Duty in the Lukas Classic.